Authors: Jo Goodman
Mary's only satisfaction was that Anna Leigh winced when her smile became a bit too fulsome and had to quickly bring the handkerchief back to her lips.
"This way," Davis Rivers said tersely. "Miss Hamilton. The doors."
Anna Leigh drew them open and stepped into the hallway. Rivers took a step backward and gestured for Ryder and Mary to follow Anna Leigh. Mary didn't move until the hand at her back increased its pressure slightly and she understood that Ryder wanted her to go. Shoulders set squarely, her hands curled into fists, Mary expressed her protest with her body as she left the room. Once she was in the hallway she saw there were no reporters and no General Hatcher. Mrs. Shanahan and the other staff had evidently left as well.
"You too," Rivers said to Ryder.
Ryder paused to regard his uncle with pale, expressionless eyes. He moved on only when Wilson Stillwell was the first to look away.
Anna Leigh demonstrated her familiarity with the house as she marched down the hallway and chose to open the second door on her right. Throwing the bolt, she waved Mary toward the dark entrance. "This way. It's the wine cellar. You're not afraid of the dark, are you?"
There was enough light from the hallway for Mary to make out the narrow stairs that led below. She looked over her shoulder at Ryder. He nodded slightly. "No," she said. "I'm not afraid of it."
"You should be." Anna Leigh was poised to give Mary a smart push at the top of the stairs when she glimpsed Ryder's cold, taut expression. She had no doubt that if she touched Mary he would kill her. It didn't matter that his uncle had a gun pointed at his back and was prepared to use it. Ryder had the look of a man who was prepared to accept that. Anna Leigh let her hand drift back to her side. She stepped out of the way to give Ryder room to follow.
Mary raised her gown and began to descend the stairs carefully. The edge of each step was slightly damp and there was no rail for support. Ryder was right behind her, proceeding into the dark, yawning cavity with similar caution.
Without warning there was a cry above them. Mary recognized Anna Leigh's high-pitched squeal, then Lieutenant River's guttural shout of surprise. Even though Mary knew what to expect, she froze on the stairs. Ryder grabbed her by the waist and lifted her, abandoning caution in favor of getting down the stairs as quickly as possible. He took them blindly, two and three at a time, moving only a heartbeat faster than the two bodies that came tumbling after them.
Anna Leigh's long scream rose and fell in pitch as she was bounced and jolted and scraped by the hard edges of the steps.
In contrast, after his first hoarse cry, the descent of Davis Rivers was eerily quiet.
Ryder lost his balance when his feet hit the cool brick floor of the wine cellar. He protected Mary from the worst of the fall by twisting so that he hit the floor first. For a moment he couldn't breathe. Mary was sprawled on top of him, her elbow planted solidly against his ribs. She tried to scramble off, but Anna Leigh somersaulted down the last three steps and landed hard on top of them both. Davis Rivers followed at a slower pace, his body slipping limply down the stairs as if it were a corrugated sliding board.
Ryder had a glimpse of his uncle silhouetted at the top of the steps before the door was shut and the wine cellar returned to complete darkness.
Mary raised her head slowly, trying to make out Ryder's features. She expected his silver eyes would glow in the dark. They didn't. "If this is how your uncle gives tours of his wine cellar," she said, "I don't think I approve."
Ryder managed to draw a rattling breath and to chuckle at the same time. He had no difficulty finding her face. He patted her cheek lightly. "You've gained some weight."
She snorted. "Anna Leigh's on top of me." Mary unceremoniously shifted her position and pushed the younger woman off her. "Better?" she asked as Anna Leigh's landing caused the beauty to emit an unladylike grunt.
"Almost," Ryder said. "If you would just take your elbow out of my ribs."
"Oh!" Mary pushed herself upright and off Ryder. She blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness. It wasn't possible. The blackness around them was every bit as deep and penetrating as it had been in the Cavern of Lost Souls. That experience had prepared her for this. She didn't fight against what she couldn't change.
Ryder sat up, drawing his legs toward his chest. He had some pain in his right knee, but nothing was broken. "You're all right?" he asked Mary.
"A few bruises. I'll be fine."
"Miss Hamilton?"
There was a small groan in response.
"Not doing as well," said Mary. She reached out in the direction of Anna Leigh's whimpers, found the other woman's shoulder, and gave it a firm shake. "Rise and shine, Miss Hamilton," she said sweetly. "The senator's decided you're no better than the rest of us."
Anna Leigh found enough strength to push Mary's hand off her shoulder. "Get away from me."
Mary was happy to oblige. She brushed her hands off smartly. "She's as good as she ever was," she said to Ryder.
"Don't start a catfight," he warned her. "I can't see to separate the two of you." Before Mary could take issue with that, Ryder asked, "What about Rivers?"
"I don't know where he is."
"I don't think he ever made it to the bottom." He held Mary back when he felt her start to move. "I'll check on him," he said. Ryder got stiffly to his feet. "Don't let me step on you."
Mary pulled in her arms and legs, giving Ryder a wide berth as he searched for the stairs. She heard him stub his foot on something. Anna Leigh's shrill expletive helped her identify what it was. "Get out of his way, Miss Hamilton," said Mary. "He's trying to help
your
friend."
Anna Leigh pushed herself upright, curling her legs under her. "What's happened to Davis?" she demanded. "Is he—"
Ryder didn't let her finish. "He's out cold. Not dead." He dragged Davis off the steps and laid him on the floor. "He's right here, if you want to tend to him," he told her.
Anna Leigh wasn't of a mind to minister to her unconscious lover. Going to the origin of Ryder's voice, she crawled to the steps and stood. Before Ryder knew her intentions she was scrambling up the stairs to the door. She tried the handle first, and when it wouldn't turn she began pounding on the wooden panels. "Wilson!" she cried. "Let me out of here! Wilson!" She paused long enough to listen for a response. When none was forthcoming she began again. "You can hear me! I know you can! Let me out!"
The pounding continued for several minutes. It was interspersed with strident demands to be released. As Anna Leigh's banging became weaker, her demands turned to tearful pleas. Eventually she just slid down the length of the door and cried quietly.
Ryder wasn't moved, and he didn't expect that his uncle was either. "I don't think he cares much what happens to you," he said.
Anna Leigh stayed where she was at the top of the steps. "Shut up."
Mary got to her feet and brushed herself off. The brick floor of the wine cellar was too cool for sitting on. "Ryder?"
"Here, Mary." He held out his hand. After a few misses, she managed to find him. They sat down together on one of the lower steps. "I suppose you want an explanation."
"I suppose I do," she said tartly. "You seem to know a lot more about what's going on here than I do."
He called up the stairs to Anna Leigh, "You'll be certain to correct any mistakes I make, won't you?"
She sniffed. "Go to hell, half-breed."
Ryder felt Mary stiffen. "Let it go," he said. "It's a compliment, not an insult." They both knew Anna Leigh hadn't meant it that way, but Ryder learned of Mary's acceptance from her small sigh.
"Very well," she said softly. "But you can't protect her forever."
He gave her hand a small squeeze. At their feet he heard Davis Rivers stir once. The lieutenant grew still again. He wasn't going to wake anytime soon. "You don't understand either, do you, Anna Leigh?" Ryder said politely. "I believe you and Rivers here thought the senator was going to give you some of the credit for my capture. The lieutenant might even have received another promotion out of it. No one else can say he captured Ryder McKay twice."
Although Anna Leigh was silent, Ryder suspected he had her full attention. "Did he tell you why he changed his mind before he pushed you down the steps?" There was no answer. "No? Well, I suppose there wasn't time."
Anna Leigh waited, but Ryder didn't say anything else. She ticked out thirty more seconds in her mind before she finally surrendered in frustration. "Bastard! What do you think you know?"
The silence had been so complete that Mary actually jumped at Anna Leigh's outburst. She had no difficulty understanding it. She was on tenterhooks herself.
Ryder didn't raise his voice but spoke in a matter-of-fact, conversational tone. "The senator knows about your affair with the lieutenant, Miss Hamilton."
It was on the tip of Anna Leigh's sharp tongue to call him a liar when she realized there was no explanation for how
he
knew about the affair. Calling him a liar would only confirm his statement. Perhaps he was only guessing. "What are you talking about?" she asked with deliberate coolness. "What affair?"
Mary had no patience for the woman's prevarication. She turned her head in Anna Leigh's direction. "Don't try to be too clever," she said dryly. "It only undermines you. Ryder and I saw you with the lieutenant at your home. There was no mistaking that you're lovers."
Anna Leigh raised her hand to her mouth, but not in time to stifle her gasp.
"The question in my mind is," Ryder said casually, "whether you were lovers before you were involved in the Colter Canyon raid or if it came later in the celebration of the success of your scheme." When Anna Leigh didn't answer, Ryder went on. "I suspect it was later. Perhaps since you returned to Washington. It would have been difficult for you to act on any attraction you felt for each other at Fort Union. Too many observers, including my uncle. The news about you and Rivers came as a surprise to him. He never suspected that you'd taken another lover."
Mary blinked widely. "Another lover!" Her voice blossomed with surprise. "You mean
your
uncle and
Anna Leigh."
Ryder's affirmative response was drowned out as Anna Leigh began pounding on the door again. "Wilson! Let me out of here! They're wrong about Davis and me. They lied to you! Wilson!" The door rattled with the force of her blows, but it didn't budge. No answer came from the other side. "I'm telling you, Wilson! Ryder and the bitch lied. I'm not having an affair with Davis. I'm not!"
Mary waited for Anna Leigh's pounding to subside before she said, "The senator might find your protests more compelling if you didn't use the lieutenant's Christian name."
Anna Leigh practically hurled herself down the stairs. Her move was so unexpected that Ryder had to push Mary aside in order to take Anna Leigh's flailing blows himself. He grappled with the Hamilton woman for several seconds before he managed to get her arms crossed in front of her and to force her wrists back. She quieted once she realized Ryder was securing her with her own arms. The more she struggled, the tighter his hold got.
As soon as she was calm and Ryder was certain Mary was out of Anna Leigh's immediate reach, he set Anna Leigh down hard on one of the bottom steps. "Stay there," he said. "Until I tell you to move. I won't be so gentle the next time you try to attack Mary."
Anna Leigh tossed her head disdainfully. It was an ineffective gesture in the dark cellar.
"Do you understand, Miss Hamilton?" he asked.
"Yes," she said tightly.
"Mary?" Ryder said.
"Hmm?"
"Behave yourself."
"All right," she said pleasantly.
Ryder stepped over the lieutenant's body again to move away from the stairs. He found Mary, took her hand, and led her out of Anna Leigh's reach once more. His shoulder bumped one of the wooden wine racks. "Here," he said. "Sit right here. You can lean against the rack."
Mary thought better of protesting that the floor was cold. She bunched her train and bustle under her and sat down. Her fingers idly traced the shapes of the smooth bricks by following their edges as Ryder spoke to Anna Leigh again. Mary's nails began to chip away at loose bits of mortar.
"It doesn't appear my uncle is going to let you out," he said. "I think Mary's right. He doesn't believe your story."
"He'll change his mind," Anne Leigh said. "You'll see."
Mary gave her credit for the confidence she forced into her tone. Only the slight quaver at the end betrayed the woman's fear that it was misplaced.
"Tell me about Colter Canyon," Ryder said. "It will pass the time."
"Oh?" she said archly. "You mean there's something you
don't
know."
"There are a few things," Ryder admitted easily.
Anna Leigh felt blood trickle from her lip again. She dabbed at it with her handkerchief, cursing Mary silently. "Why should I?" she said sullenly. "What do I gain?"
"Your freedom."
She hadn't expected that. "You mean you can get out of here?"
"Yes."
"Then do it," she demanded. "What are you waiting for?"